A Late Birthday Celebration for Godzilla!

Yuichi Kikuchi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Godzilla's birthday is celebrated on November 3, but, for me, the festivities really took place on Saturday, November 5, during which I was able to spend a fun evening with three legends of tokusatsu. As you can imagine, it was a lot of fun, and it was the perfect way to celebrate Godzilla's big anniversary.

The guest of honor was tokusatsu director Yuichi Kikuchi. Kikuchi-san is best known for serving as SFX director on Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002), as well as working as assistant SFX director on such movies as Gamera 3 (1999) and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). He was also SFX director on Ultraman: The Next (2004), Ultraman Nexus (2004-05), Ultraman Max (2005-06), Ultraman Mebius (2006-07), as well as other works. When I arrived, I was seated right next to Kikuchi-san, with whom I had a nice chat. I asked him when his next stage production would be held, but he said it hasn't been decided yet. It will be sometime next year. We also talked about some of his favorite tokusatsu productions.

Kazuya Konaka. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was Kazuya Konaka. Konaka-san helmed episodes of Ultraman Dyna (1997-98), Ultraman Cosmos (2001-02), Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Mebius, Ultraseven X (2007), Ultraman Ginga S (2014), and Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga (2016-17). Konaka-san also directed the feature films: Ultraman Zearth 2 (1997), Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna (1998), Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace (1999), Ultraman: The Next, Mirrorman Reflex (2006), and Ultraman Mebius and Ultra Brothers (2006).

Admittedly, Konaka-san was the guest I interacted with the least, largely due to the seating arrangement, so I don't have very much to say about our discussions. Oh, well. Maybe next time! 

Kenji Suzuki. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The final guest was Kenji Suzuki. Before joining Toho, Suzuki-san was a freelance SFX director who did some work at Tsuburaya Productions, most notably Ultraman 80 (1980-81). At Toho, he served as an assistant SFX director on The Imperial Navy (1981) and Sayonara Jupiter (1984). On Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Rebirth of Mothra (1996), and Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997), he served as the chief assistant SFX director under Koichi Kawakita. On Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998), Godzilla 2000 (1999), and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, he was the SFX director. In the 2000s, Suzuki-san returned to Tsuburaya Productions and lent his talents to various Ultra-projects.

Suzuki-san is a bona fide tokusatsu legend, and it's always great to see him. My discussion with him was a bit similar to one I had with Kikuchi-san. Suzuki-san is a soft-spoken gentleman and is about as nice as they come.

And that's all! This is truly my idea of celebrating Godzilla's big day. It was a wonderful evening with several wonderful people.